spatialepidemiology.net

The global genetic epidemiology of pathogenic micro-organisms.

MLST is a very widely used DNA sequence based method that allows the unambiguous identification via the Internet of strains of bacterial pathogens, allowing, for example, the tracking of particularly virulent or antibiotic-resistant strains of the major pathogens.

International MLST databases are available for many pathogen species and allow researchers in different countries to unambiguously compare their strains and to deposit the molecular data, along with epidemiological data, in a central MLST database.

MLST-maps provides an interface to explore the large amounts of MLST data that are being produced for a growing number of pathogenic species such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus – including MRSA strains, Neisseria meningitidis and some fungi, e.g., Candida albicans.


Related Links - MLST.net

See PLoS Medicine Publication:
Grundmann H, Aanensen DM, van den Wijngaard CC, Spratt BG, Harmsen D, et al. (2010) Geographic Distribution of Staphylococcus aureus Causing Invasive Infections in Europe: A Molecular-Epidemiological Analysis. PLoS Med 7(1): e1000215.doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000215

The European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (EARSS) is an international initiative funded by the Director General for Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO) of the European Commission and the Dutch Ministry of Health Welfare and Sports. It maintains a comprehensive surveillance and information system that links national networks by providing comparable and validated data on the prevalence and spread of major invasive bacteria with clinically and epidemiologically relevant antimicrobial resistance in Europe.

The overall hospital catchment population of the EARSS network is now estimated to include over 100 million inhabitants in the European region, which represents a fifth of all European citizens.

With the help of this network, about 3000 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) isolates from blood-stream infections of patients in 450 European health-care institutions from 29 European countries have been systematically collected and analysed by DNA-sequence typing. This collection provides a genetic snapshot of the S. aureus population causing invasive disease in Europe and in particular of MRSA strains.

The mapping platform utilizes Google Earth and Google Maps, providing a user-friendly and widely applicable research tool for geographic tracking of strains/clones with particular public health importance. 

Related links - www.earss.rivm.nl

“Time is running out for the world’s remarkably diverse amphibians.  Almost half all known species are in decline and one in every three amphibian species is currently threatened with extinction, a far higher proportion than that of bird or mammal species. “ 
(Source: http://www.edgeofexistence.org/conservation/amphibian_threats.php)

The deadly chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is highly effective at causing extinctions among local populations of amphibians worldwide and it has already wiped out vast numbers of amphibians in areas including Australia and South America.

Global surveillance of such an emerging pathogen demands global tools aimed at distributed data collection (from labs across the world), allowing the monitoring of the distribution of disease and the identification of sources and routes of infection. Users can enter their data privately, analyse their data with or separately from the public data collection, and identify the spread of infection. Genotyped individual isolates can be used to investigate the evolution and population biology of the organism. The facility is aimed at scientists, policy makers and the public.

Related articles - EDGE Amphibians | Year of the Frog | News1 | News2